In the build-up to Saturday night's middleweight title fight, there was a lot of focus on the vaunted left hook of challenger Curtis Stevens and the question of whether it could prove an equalizer against the overall skills and power of champion Gennady Golovkin. Sure enough, a left hook landed heavily, and almost conclusively, early in the fight; but it was Golovkin who threw it and Stevens who found himself flat on his back.

To his credit, Stevens peeled himself off the canvas, but despite putting up a valiant fight he was ultimately overwhelmed, his corner stepping in to rescue him after eight rounds at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. It was Golovkin's fifteenth straight knockout, and his 25th stoppage in 28 career victories.